Chapter 2496 Take the Middle
Manbao's fiefdom is not very rich, so the land is not expensive, especially the wasteland.
Zhou Lijun found a piece of land near the roadside and bought it. Now the workshop and house have been built, so everyone came to see it.
The reason why the construction was so fast was that it was built according to the style of a farmyard, without the detailed divisions like the farmyards in Jianpu Village before, and the bricks, stones and wood used were also of good quality.
The workshop they built consisted of rows of courtyards and houses, inside which were the medicine grinding room, medicine boiling room, and oil refining room, all designed based on their experience.
Anyway, it's divided very detailedly.
A lot of people will need to be invited at that time, so Zhou Lijun decided to invite people from his aunt's fiefdom.
Manbao took a vase to Zheng.
Zheng placed it on the shelf in the outer room, but after looking at it, she felt that it was not harmonious enough, so she took it to her own study and found a shelf to put it on, which made her feel comfortable.
"Did you cut it in the garden?"
Manbao nodded and said with a smile, "I cut it a little."
When Zheng went for a walk in the evening, she realized that more than just a few flowers had been pruned. Several of her favorite flowers had also been pruned. She felt very sad for a moment, and then she protected the remaining flower buds and never allowed Zhou Man to prun them again.
She said, "There's a process to pruning flowers. You have to leave at least one blooming flower on the branch, so it doesn't look bare and ugly."
Manbao nodded repeatedly and said, "Aunt Zheng, next time I go out and buy some flowers, I'll put them in a vase for you."
Zheng immediately said, "I want the big ones."
This is not difficult at all for Manbao.
She agreed with a smile, turned around and went to the mall to order a lot of flowers. When she got off work after the holiday, she went for a walk on the street and came back with the flowers in her arms.
Zheng was very happy to know that Manbao could always buy a lot of beautiful flowers. She put them in a vase with her, kept one for herself, and gave the rest to Old Lady Liu, Mrs. Bai, who was close to her, and Xiao Qian.
I had just been back to work for a few days when the Double Ninth Festival holiday came again.
However, this time, Manbao and the others did not go out to play, but stayed at home to read with Bai Erlang and the other two.
When Guan Yong came to the capital this time and saw Bai Shan's notes, he was amazed. It turned out that there was a big difference between the teachers in the county school and the Imperial College, not to mention the teachers in Chongwenguan.
He basically learned new knowledge every day, and then he knew that he was taking the imperial examination this time to gain experience. After reading Bai Shan's article, he knew that he might not be able to pass the imperial examination in three years.
Bai Dalang and Bai Erlang's articles were not bad either, but he felt that he could not catch up.
Guan Yong whispered to his wife, "We should stay here until next year's Mingjing exam. I won't pass the exam."
Zhou Lixin had anticipated that passing the imperial examination wouldn't be that easy, so he nodded and said, "Don't worry, we'll just stay here, and you can study with Mr. Zhuang. I also studied with Mr. Zhuang for two years before, so we can be considered classmates."
Guan Yong couldn't help laughing when he heard this, and said, "If I had known that Mr. Zhuang was so talented, I should have gone to Qili Village to study."
However, Mr. Zhuang was not well-known at that time. Compared with Mr. Zhuang, who could only accept Mr. Bai's invitation to teach a group of naughty children in the village, the two famous teachers in the county town were naturally better. Therefore, Guan Yong was sent to the county town to study early. He has always been the most promising child in the three nearby villages except for Bai Dalang.
Unfortunately, Bai Shan came later, and Bai Erlang, who had never been good at studying, surpassed him and went to study in Yizhou...
Guan Yong coughed lightly, pulling his thoughts back to normal, and said to his wife, "I just miss my child."
Zhou Lixin also thought about it, and the smile on his face fell. He sighed and said, "I don't know if he is obedient at home. Otherwise, I should go back with my second uncle and others after my aunt gets married."
"Don't," Guan Yong said quickly, "Are you willing to leave me alone?"
"My parents are here too."
Guan Yong shook her head. "Father-in-law and mother-in-law are naturally very kind, but we have been together since we got married. Now that we are in the capital, how can you go back alone? Don't worry, mother will definitely take good care of the child."
Guan Yong suppressed his thoughts and worries and tried to persuade his wife instead.
Zhou Lixin thought that he would be entering the examination hall in a few days, so he didn't want him to be distracted, and nodded.
Two days after the Double Ninth Festival, on September 12, the Jinshi examination officially began. Bai Shan and others went to send Bai Dalang and the other two into the examination room.
Bai Shan, a successful man, personally escorted the people to the entrance of the Imperial Examination Hall, and also met Feng Zongping and Pei Shouyue. He simply sent them all his blessings. Regardless of the prospects, everyone was very ambitious at the moment.
However, they also prepared for the worst. Feng Zongping said to Bai Erlang, "If we don't pass this time, we can take the Mingjing exam together next year."
Bai Jilang nodded.
Bai Dalang also nodded.
Pei Shouyue and Guan Yong also nodded secretly.
In addition to policy essays and calligraphy, the imperial examination also focuses on poetry and the candidates' reputation.
Feng Zongping had a good reputation in the capital, and he was also the prince's companion. The examiners all knew him, and he had also written two or three good articles in the past two years.
Bai Dalang is also quite famous. He almost passed the exam last year, so most of the examiners have probably heard of him, but the two of them are still not as famous as Bai Erlang.
This person was famous for three aspects: first, he was also the prince's companion; second, he was the future prince consort; third, he was a junior fellow student of Zhou Man and Bai Shan. Especially this year, the memorial written by him, Bai Shan and Zhou Man about the Imperial Medical Bureau was often taken out by the emperor to share with his ministers.
Being able to serve as examiners for the Jinshi examination, one's status is naturally not low, and they have read Bai Erlang's memorials many times.
Therefore, they had to admit that Bai Erlang was still a capable person, so when they were marking the papers, they also put his paper on the side that was selected.
After they were ranked, they took the results to the palace to see the emperor. Well, the emperor would usually choose the top three. Of course, if he was interested, he could also rank the ones at the back. Whether everyone listened or not was another matter.
The emperor took out Bai Dalang's paper and looked at it, nodded with satisfaction, glanced at the list, and saw that the examiners had ranked him twelfth, so he didn't say anything. Then he looked at Bai Erlang's and became a little conflicted.
This time, Li Maoyue was one of the examiners. Seeing the emperor pondering, he asked, "Your Majesty, do you think this paper is not good?"
The emperor said, "It's not bad. I've looked at the other papers. His literary talent may be a little inferior, but his insight is not inferior to others, and he is pragmatic. You ranking him 20th is not bad, but two Jinshi in one family..."
He felt that this was too great an honor.
Li Maoyue, however, understood the emperor's other intention and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, Duke Wei once said that when selecting talented people, one doesn't need to avoid relatives. Bai Cheng has such talent. If he is rejected just because he is the legitimate son-in-law, it would be too unfair to him."
The emperor raised his eyebrows and agreed deeply. Ahem, he was not pretending. He was not doing this to let people know that Bai Cheng was able to pass the exam not because of his favoritism, but because he really had the ability.
However, the emperor was still fair and felt that his ranking of 20th was a bit exaggerated, so he moved him to 23rd.
The examiners looked at the list and nodded slightly, thinking that the emperor was fair, so the list was finalized.
See you tomorrow
(End of this chapter)
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